Summer might be the offseason for college athletes, but it still brought some major updates to Harvard sports. Every four years, one sporting event eclipses all other summer competitions: the Summer Olympics. Harvard was extremely successful in the Paris Olympics—it was one of the most successful performances by the school’s students in its history. And while some Harvard athletes flourished, others saw their time at the University come to an end, as Harvard remains reluctant to fund athletes through scholarships or spend on NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) deals.
Starting with the Summer Games, Harvard sent 26 athletes to Paris, winning 13 medals to reach the highest tally in school history. Of those 13 medals, Harvard athletes claimed eight golds, one silver, and four bronze medals. Five different athletes claimed gold this summer, none of which had previously won a gold medal at the Olympics.
Three of Harvard’s athletes claimed more than one medal. Gabby Thomas ’19 (USA) claimed three gold medals in track and field, winning the women’s 200m, 4x100m relay, and 4x400m relay. Kristen Faulkner ’16 (USA) rode her way to an individual gold medal in the women’s road race and a team gold in the women’s team pursuit event. Rising senior Lauren Scruggs ’25 (USA) claimed silver in the women’s foil individual event as well as gold in the women’s foil team event.
Additionally, Lisa Tertsch ’21 (GER) claimed gold in the triathlon mixed relay, and Liam Corrigan ’19 (USA) claimed gold in the men’s rowing Four. To wrap up the medal count, David Amber ’20 won bronze in the men’s rowing Four for Great Britain, while Clark Dean ’23, Peter Quinton ’20, and Christian Tabash ’19 all won bronze rowing for the Eight for the U.S.
However, even across the Atlantic Ocean, Harvard was not able to escape negative press coverage. The Wall Street Journal posted an article about the men’s sabre team, which was composed of all Harvard students, with the subtitle, “Bad news, America. It’s time to root for Harvard.” While the article does not explicitly bash Harvard, the subtitle points out that people have not been rooting for Harvard recently, and even struggle to do so in the Olympics. The article describes fencing as “chess with swords” yet explains how Harvard has sent eight fencing athletes to the Olympics, which is more than 43 countries’ fencing teams.
During Olympic years, there is generally strong communal support for American athletes and a renewed sense of patriotism for the U.S. Despite the athletes’ status as Americans, some people found it hard to root for the sabre athletes, not due to their performance, but because of their affiliation with Harvard. The controversy surrounding the University overshadowed its achievements, leading to criticism that seemed more focused on the educational background of the athletes rather than their academic performance. Even in spaces as unifying as the Olympics, the reputation of the institution can supersede that unification as it did for the men’s sabre team.
Moving away from the Olympics, this summer, Harvard lost some of their best young talents through the NCAA transfer portal. Harvard’s refusal to spend money on the NIL scene will continue to hamper the school’s ability to retain elite athletes. Not only is this doing a disservice to athletes, but it also hinders Harvard’s ability to compete with other schools that are utilizing NIL to develop strong programs.
Just this summer, Harvard lost one of their best freshman tennis players in recent memory, Cooper Williams ’27, to Duke as well as their two best and highest scoring basketball players, Malik Mack ’27 and Chisom Okpara ’26, to Georgetown and Stanford, respectively. These transfers will open up playing time for other athletes within the program but leave massive holes for Coach Tommy Amaker and the Crimson’s basketball team, who have not won an Ivy League Title since 2019.
Harvard’s football program faced a significant setback with the transfer of five senior players, all of whom had remaining eligibility and secured undisclosed NIL deals. These players were Thor Griffith (Louisville), Tyler Neville (UVA), Logan Bednar (Eastern Michigan), Matthew Hudson (Memphis), and Jacob Rizy (FSU). These transfers are a massive hit to the team, which will need to regroup and recover, particularly given the University’s unwillingness to allow graduate students to compete on their varsity teams.
Furthermore, with the largest university endowment in the world, Harvard still has yet to create athletic scholarships for its student-athletes, while almost every other college in the nation provides this money to attract and retain talent. With this refusal, many athletes will see Harvard as a springboard to show their talents and shine in the Ivy League, gain traction and popularity, and then make money elsewhere at universities that have programs to pay players. CBS has recently deemed the Ivy League a stepping stone for a lot of athletes because of the recent NIL money coming into play.
This summer was one of joy and sadness. While Harvard’s athletes performed amazingly on the world stage, the school’s sports faced challenges and showed signs of larger institutional issues. Without spending any more on NIL or providing scholarships, Harvard will likely continue to struggle to gain elite athletes and compete on the national scale.
Luke Wagner ’26 (lukewagner@college.harvard.edu) wished the University cared more about their sports teams.